WYOMING — A new labor contract lauded by the mayor as “very equitable” for both the city and its police freezes wages for the next two years and plans for a transition to a public-safety department.

Still, a pay raise in the final year of the pact that runs through June 2014 drew objection from a staunch fiscal conservative on the City Council.

“I have voted consistently for zero increase in wages and I believe in that,” said Councilwoman Joanne Voorhees, who cast the minority vote in a 6-1 decision. “I appreciated their zero, zero (increase the first two years), but the third year is the stickler.

“The economists are saying it’s going to be a minimum of two or three or four years before this economy may become healthy again, so I cannot make a promise for wages when we do not know what our budget will be or when the economy is coming back.”

The three-year deal with about two-thirds of Wyoming’s 95 police employees pegs a July 2013 pay raise to price inflation in 2012, with a minimum raise of 1 percent and a maximum hike of 3 percent. Officers also will start paying 15 percent of their health insurance premiums now, with their share rising to 20 percent in July 2013.

The health plan includes a $10 co-pay for doctor’s office visits and prescription co-pays of $10 for generic drugs and $30 for brand-name medicine.

“It certainly is a contract that showed some good restraint by our police department that they were able to come to terms with what’s going on in the world today,” Mayor Jack Poll said. “It’s very equitable for both the city of Wyoming and for our police officers.”

The contract also includes a memorandum of understanding about certain job and compensation details in the event that Wyoming merges its police and fire departments into a single public safety unit. City administrators say such a move could save money, and they’re exploring it while a temporary, five-year public safety millage approved by voters in 2010 runs its course.

The memo states that employees cross-trained in both police and fire protection will get a 2 percent boost to base pay if the city forms a public safety department. That’s less than the 5 percent to 10 percent norm across the state, said Will Keizer, a labor representative for the Police Officers Labor Council.

Union members made concessions in light of tough economic times and in response to approval of last year’s millage, he said.

“That community support did not fall on deaf ears,” Keizer said. “The guys recognize that and they appreciate that. Overwhelmingly, the police officers believe this is what’s best for the community.”

Keizer declined to disclose the union’s margin of approval in ratifying the contract.